STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.— Monsignor Farrell High School has broken ground on a long-awaited multi-sport complex years in the making — and it’s already being touted as a “game changer” by school leadership.
A new, regulation-sized baseball field, plus additional practice and training spaces for the Oakwood school’s other athletic programs, will be built where the former priests’ residence once stood. That residence was recently razed.
The project is estimated to cost $6 million and take at least three years to complete. Three of Farrell’s 19 acres will be devoted to the new complex, and the project will be funded from Farrell’s Strengthen the Legacy five-year capital campaign, which has raised $12.3 million thus far.
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No sports teams will be impacted by the construction. Currently, Farrell’s baseball team plays at the Berry Houses fields, which underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation years ago.
The project has been a long time coming, said Lou Tabacco, school president.
“I think the dream at Farrell was simply to turf the lower field and use it as an auxiliary practice space. Over time, though, that dream evolved into a true multi-sport complex,” said Tabacco..
Set to feature all the trimmings of a true ballpark — including bleachers, a scoreboard, dugouts and batting cages — the project will be led by engineer David Hodge of global design firm Populous, whose portfolio includes work with internationally renowned clubs such as Manchester City Football Club.
While the project is expected to take several years to complete, the wait will be worth it, said Tabacco.
“This is going to be a game changer for Monsignor Farrell High School. Eighty percent of the census of our school, the boys are part of an athletic program here,” Tabacco said.
A work in progress
The path to construction, however, was not without its challenges. While the school recently received final approval from the Department of Buildings to demolish the former priest residence, Tabacco said that process alone took nearly two years to complete.
According to Tabacco, it was ultimately a more practical option to tear down the aging building — which opened in the 1960s — than to continue to maintain it. Tabacco said he appealed directly to then-Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan.
“For the residence to continue in any meaningful way, it was going to cost well more than the cost of the demolition. The building needed everything. It needed a new roof, new heating, new plumbing and new electric. It truly was dilapidated and obsolete, so it really was a no-brainer.”
Farrell faced another hurdle when engineers surveying the site discovered that a narrow strip of land long believed to be part of the Farrell campus was actually owned by New York City through a master lease with the MTA.
“As our engineer was doing all the required surveys, he stumbled across this tiny little pocket of property on our side of the fence that wasn’t property of Monsignor Farrell High School or the Archdiocese of New York,” Tabacco said. “It took us a long time to find out who actually owned the property.”
Tabacco credited former Assemblyman Michael Cusick and Gov. Kathy Hochul with helping move the process forward.
“Once Michael Cusick and Gov. Hochul got involved, we were able to start making some headway with the MTA. We went back and forth about an easement, but at the end of the day, it made the most sense for the Archdiocese of New York and Monsignor Farrell High School to purchase the property because it’s public land.”
Community will benefit
Beyond Farrell’s own teams, Tabacco emphasized that the complex will serve as a resource for the local sports community.
“This is not just for Farrell. We are very generous with our space and time for youth sports, and we allow all different youth sports programs — soccer, football, lacrosse and track and field leagues — to utilize our facilities at Farrell,” he said.
“This is going to benefit the greater community. We have a whole list of community partners and different organizations that we’re going to continue to be generous with and offer time and space to. We’re going to continue to be a good neighbor to our friends in Oakwood and the greater Staten Island community.”
